Insight
Wayne Rooney, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Luke Littler: The young sports stars who changed the game
As Luke Littler becomes the youngest player ever to reach the final of the World Darts Championship, he joins a host of sporting stars who made an impact at a young age.
If the 16-year-old was to win the title it would be one of the greatest sporting stories of all time and he would out-do several famous young achievers.
Pele was 17 when he won the World Cup with Brazil, Boris Becker was 18 as he claimed his first Wimbledon title while Mike Tyson became heavyweight world champion at 20.
Here is a look at some more athletes who did not let their age stop them.
Wayne Rooney - 16
Rooney made his senior Everton debut in August 2002 against Tottenham, setting up a goal for Mark Pembridge in a 2-2 draw.
His appearance made him the second-youngest first-team player in Everton history behind Joe Royle.
He scored his first senior goals on 2 October, scoring twice in a 3-0 win over Wrexham in the League Cup.
His breakthrough moment however came when he scored past David Seaman from 30 yards in October 2002 to end champions Arsenal’s 30-game unbeaten Premier League run.
Ronnie O’Sullivan - 17
At 17-years-old, O'Sullivan became the youngest-ever winner of a ranking event when he beat Stephen Hendry to claim the 1993 UK Snooker Championship.
Two years later, he was victorious in the 1995 Masters to add another record to his CV by the age of 19, both accolades he still holds.
Sky Brown - 13
The skateboarder became the UK’s youngest-ever Olympian when she competed at the Tokyo games aged just 13 and followed it up by becoming the country’s youngest medal winner when she took bronze in the women’s park skateboarding event.
She has continued to set records in the years since, most recently by becoming the first British winner at the skateboarding World Championships in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates in February 2023.
Cesc Fabregas - 16
Fabregas became Arsenal’s youngest-ever player when he made his first-team debut in a League Cup tie against Rotherham at Highbury in September 2003 and clocked another club record when he scored his first goal in the next round in a 5-1 win over Wolves.
The following season, aged 17, he took up a regular place in the team’s midfield as they sought to defend the title won the previous campaign.
Emma Raducanu - 18
Raducanu made her debut on the ITF Women's circuit in 2018 and secured her first title of the year in May.
She was selected to play for Great Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup in 2020, but the Covid-19 Pandemic meant matches were not played.
In June 2021 Raducanu made her Grand Slam main-draw debut on a wildcard to the Wimbledon Championships. She made it to the third round making her the youngest British woman to reach that stage since Elena Baltacha in 2002.
In September the teenager, now ranked 150th in the world, entered the the US Open, and made it to the semi-finals without dropping a set.
Raducanu broke records after record during her campaign, making her the first British woman to reach the US Open final since Virginia Wade in 1968 and defeated Leylah Fernandez in two sets, winning with a 109-mph ace.
It what was the first all-teenage women's singles final since the 1999 US Open.
She won the title without dropping a set, the first woman to do so at the US Open since Williams in 2014.
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